Excavating apparatus.



PATENTED AUG. 4, 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

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7L. BREE; EXCAVATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION {ILED OCT, 19,1906.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 3- I flZkiz oree. 1 W% m UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE. LORENZO BREE ,OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 ROBERT P. DUNSTON, HANCOCK,- MICHIGAN.

No. 895,236. j

Specification of Letters Patent.

. EXCAVATING APPARATUS.

Patented Aug. 4, 1908.-

Application filed October 19, 1906. Serial No. 339,619.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LORENZO BREE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Excavating Apparatus, of which the followin is a specification.

My invention refiates to excavating machines and has for its object in particular to improve the form of bucket, its mode of delivery and the disposition of the spoils brought up by the buckets.

The invention has for a further object such new and improved constructions in apparatus of this character as are set forth in the following specification.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings as applied to a wheel ditching machine comprising a carriage, a swinging frame at the end of the carriage, and a rotating excavating wheel mounted on the swinging frame. As my invention relates only-to the digging element, together with the devices for the disposition of the spoils, I have shown only the rear end of such machine, this being suiticient to illustrate the operation of the device.

Figure 1 is 'a side View of the excavating wheel, and Fi 2, a vertical section taken on line 2-2 of l ig. 1.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts in all the drawings.

From the rear of the carriage extend a pair of beams, one of which is shown at A, these being supported by wheels B. On the beams are stan ards C having bearings for the shaft C on which is mounted the swin ing frarne D, the posit'on of whch is controlled by the cable'D connected with any suitable windlass (not here shown.) On the frame D are the bearings D D in which turns the hollow shaft E. The hub F of the excavatin wheel is rigidly secured to this shaft by the key F G, G are collars interposed between the bearings and the hub. Y

F is the rim of the wheel which is preferably of channel iron construction and has the peripheral teeth F for the drive chain.

F are the spokes secured to the channel iron F and to the flanges ll F on the hub.

The wheel is driven by a chain H extending over a sprocket H on the shaft C, this shaft carrying also the sprocket ll -driven by a chain ll connected with any suitable motor on the carriage.

It will be understood that the construction of the wheel and the arrangement of the driving device might be very greatly varied.

The buckets are preferably located peripherally and at each side of the wheel in alternate arrangement, designated generally by the letters J. They may be secured to the wheel in any desired manner, for example, by the braces or straps J, J at the rear and .ets provided with lugs J to which are hinged the doors J provided with similar lugs J. The hinges are arranged on the side of the bucket nearer the central plane of the wheel so that the doors, when they are released, form slides which conduct the material to one or other of the conveyers arranged on opposite sides of the wheel. The doors ma be released by any suitable mechanism, re erably automatic. I have shown them eld or locked by a bell crank latch K pivoted to the inside of the bucket at K and having the right-angle extension K which is designed to stand in the path of a stationary portion of the machine and be tripped therey through the rotation of the excavatn 0 wheel. The latch has the notched end which extends through a slot K in the door or swinging side of the bucket. A spring K retract-s the latch to its normalv position.

To receive the material dischar ed from the buckets I provide preferably belt conveyors or aprons L, L, one at each side of the wheel. These conveyers are su )ported by a frame work carried by a. shaft ll extending through the hollow shaft E. At each :end of the shaft L is a collar L to which is secured a V-shaped brace L the ends of which carry the 11 right supports L, L. The connections etween L and L are ad'ustable by means of the oerforations L To the upper ends of the uprights L L are pivoted the oblique strips L, L supported at their mner ends by the supports L, L secured to suitable collars L, L on the shaft L. A tierod L is pivoted on the swinging frame D at means of the jam nuts L, L.

suit-able apparatus.

L and is screw threaded at the other end which extends through one of the supports L to which it is adjustablv connected by The frame work on each side of the wheel formed by L L" and L supports the conveyer or the apron L which TllllS over a roller L journaled in the ends of the uprights L and over a roller L journaled in the side pieces L. These side pieces are connected by the oblique plat form L preferably provided with the upturned flanges L which form a sort of trotwh in which the apron runs. The apron may e operated by gravity or may be driven by any If the conveyer operates by gravity it is advisable in certain classes of heavy, sticky soils to increase the slant .of the conveyer. I have shown means for doing this in the cams M on the wheel which cams engage with the roller L" on the frame L secured to the side pieces L. This operation is so timed that after the bucket has discharged its load upon the conveyer one of the cams enga eswith the roller and tilts the up er end of theconveyer so as to give adde( inclination thereto. j he flanges L serve to trip the latches Ken the buckets.

I wish it to be understood that do not desire to be limited to the'exact details of construction shown and described for o vions modifications will occur to any one skilledin the art.

the foregoing description. To recapitulate, it will be understood that the wheel is first set in motion through the agency of the chains H, H, the rotation bein fronrleft to right in Fig. 1. Thebuckets will scoop out'a trench of the desired de )th, this being regulated by the angular position of the frame D. As the buckets get to the top of the wheel their inner sides are released and the load discharged upon one of the conveyers L, L. This discharge from the top of the wheel has some importance, articularly in digging a deep trench where t 1e wheel may be working nearly, if not quite, hub deep. There is little, if any chance that the buckets will become clogged in an arrangement of this sort. The packing naturally occurs between the sides of the bucket, and when one of these is released the pressure is at once taken away and the contents of the bucket discharged. More over, this discharge, is almost vertical and upon a conveyer which is at a sufficient height from the round to insure the proper piling of the spoils at the sides of the trench. As the buckets are inverted the door swings back into place and is automatically latched. i'he conveyers and their supporting frame work can, of course, be set to a proper position on the supporting shaft in accordance with the angular position of the frame D which latter will depend upon the depth of the trench being dug.

I claim:

1. In an excavating machine, the combination of an excavating wheel, an apron at the side thereof "to receive the spoils, and an excavating bucket having a discharge opening controlled by a door and adapted to discharge the contents of the bucket onto said apron.

2. In an excavating machine, the combination of an excavating wheel, a. gravity apron at the side thereof to receive the spoils, and an excavating bucket having a discharge opening controlled by a door and adapted to discharge the contents of the bucket onto said apron.

3. In an excavating machine, the combination of an excavating wheel, a gravity apron at the side thereof to receive the spoils, an excavating bucket having a discharge opening controlled by a door and adapted to discharge the contents of the bucket onto said apron, and means for increasing the slant of said apron.

4. In an. excavating machine, the combination of an excavating wheel, a gravity apron atthe side thereof to receive the spoils, an excavating bucket having a discharge I \opening controlled by a door and adapted to The use and operation of my device will perhaps have been made sufliciently clear by discharge the contents of the bucket onto \said apron, and means for intermittently lifting the upper end of said apron.

5. In an excavating machine, the combination. of an excavating wheel, a gravity apron at the side thereof to receive the s )OllS, an excavating bucket having a disc large opening controlled by a door and adapted to discharge the contents of the bucket onto said apron, and means for intermittently lifting the upper end of said apron comprising a cam on said excavating wheel.

6. In an excavating machine, an excavating bucketopen at the top and normally closed at the sides and bottom and having a door on one side thereof with means for opening the door.

7. In an excavating machine, an excavating bucket open at the top and normally closed at the sides and bottom and having a.

hinged door on one side thereof with a latch* to hold said door closed, and means for releasing said latr I1.

1 LORENZO BREE. 'itnesse:

PERCIYAL H. TnUMAx, Sormn B. WERNER. 

